Anthony Soltero, first walkout fatality

De Todos Para Todos (from everyone for everyone) has more information about the death of Anthony Soltero, a 14-year old boy from Ontario considered by some the first martry of the immigrant’s rights movement.

Eighth grader Anthony Soltero shot himself through the head on Thursday, March 30, after the assistant principal at De Anza Middle School told him that he was going to prison for three years because of his involvement as an organizer of the April 28 school walk-outs to protest the anti-immigrant legislation in Washington. The vice principal also forbade Anthony from attending graduation activities and threatened to fine his mother for Anthony’s truancy and participation in the student protests.

Anthony was learning about the importance of civic duties and rights in his eighth grade class. Ironically, he died because the vice principal at his school threatened him for speaking out and exercising those rights, Ms. Corales said today. I want to speak out to other parents, whose children are attending the continuing protests this week. We have to let the schools know that they cant punish our children for exercising their rights.

Anthony’s death is likely the first fatality arising from the protests against the immigration legislation being considered in Washington, D.C. Anthony, who was a very good student at De Anza Middle School in the Ontario-Montclair School District, believed in justice and was passionate about the immigration issue. He is survived by his mother, Louise Corales, his father, a younger sister, and a baby brother.

I’ve worried about the students who have walked out and the potential repercussions. They face truancy and many other disciplinary charges. What worries me even more is the knowledge they may or may not have of their rights. It deeply saddens me that Anthony felt this was his only way to deal with punishment he expected.

David, you don’t think that societal pressure can cause a teenager to make terrible, bad decisions? While I’m not comfortable painting Soltero as a martyr of the immigrant’s rights movement, to say that if he committed suicide he must’ve been depressed or mentally ill seems awfully dismissive.

Besides, didn’t you write a post recently about the dangers of allowing a school to punish it’s students for exercising their right to protest? ;)

On the flip side, I’d like to see something more than the familiy’s claim that he took his life because of threats made by the Vice Principal. From those articles, I don’t see any documentation or proof other than the family’s saying that’s the case. I can’t even find anywhere that the family says he told them that.

5000! You might be right about dismissing this as merely due to mental illness or depression, but by and large even kids who kill themselves due to societal pressures tend to have something else going on.

And I’d argue that the VP and school were acting entirely inappropriately – but thats a different topic entirely.

Of course his family has a right to their opinions, but CindyLu, you’ve labeled him as “fatality” of the walkouts in your headline, and point out that some consider him a martyr. Its these “some” that worry me, as they may try and exploit this kid’s sad death for their own cause.

5000!,
There was a press conference at the same church members of my family attend in Ontario, Our Lady of Guadalupe. I believe the family spoke out then, I saw some of it briefly on Spanish-language news.

Mercado contended a school administrator pulled Soltero aside on March 30 and told him he could be jailed for three years, banished from his graduation and his parents could be fined for his involvement in the protest.

Fearful of the repercussions, Soltero called his mother about the conversation, then shot himself in the head before she arrived home, Mercado claimed.

“He was distraught enough to the point he took his own life,” said Mercado, a civil rights attorney.

David,
I haven’t heard of anyone trying to exploit Anthony’s death. By and large, activists are deeply saddened to hear of this.

The actions of the administrator, if true, were thoroughly inappropriate, but so was Anthony’s reaction to it.

Like 5000! asks: “you don’t think that societal pressure can cause a teenager to make terrible, bad decisions.” The answer is: of course. But bad decisions by a teenager do not a martyr make.

Nothing suggests he killed himself for the cause. He possibly killed himself because the administrator is a jerk. Maybe there were other issues. It isn’t uncommon for even parents and best friends not to see warning signs of suicidal tendencies in a teenager.

5000! is also correct that all we have at this point is the family’s and their attorney’s opinion (and we all know that an attorney will never speak anything but the whole truth and nothing but the truth). We don’t know whether this was the entire cause for Anthony’s actions or just the final straw. Consider the latter alternative for the family. If Anthony had prior problems, the family would have to face the fact that they missed them.

How this plays out remains to be seen. We may never know what was going on in Anthony’s head at the time he made his final decision. This is a tragedy. Beyond that is pure speculation.

For Cindylu to say: “I haven’t heard of anyone trying to exploit Anthony’s death” is hard to believe. To use the word “martyr” in this situation in your opening paragraph comes across as exploitive of your readers. This tragedy deserves better.

Reality check, folks. What eighth grader (especially one with the intestinal fortitude to lead a walkout) gives a flying flip what an assistant vice principal tells him? Seriously, now. That story just does not fly. Girlfriend? Boyfriend? Bullies? Depressed? This is why teens kill themselves, not disciplinary authority figures.

Certainly a tragic and sad story, but this kid is hardly a martyr. He didn’t kill himself for any higher cause. If the story is true, he killed himself to escape the repercussions of his actions. Sorry to say this, but he took a coward’s way out, not a martyr’s.

“Some children who take their own lives are indeed the opposite of the rebellious teen. They are anxious, insecure kids who have a desperate desire to be liked, to fit in, to do well. Their expectations are so high that they demand too much of themselves, so are condemned to constant disappointment.

A traumatic event, which can seem minor viewed from an adult perspective, is enough to push them over the edge into a severe depression. Being jilted, failing a test, getting into an accident — they have the sense that their life is a delicate balance, and one failure or disappointment seems to threaten the whole house of cards.”

a martyr what a joke so many other kids have walkednout and got in trouble and the parent did get fined and none of them killed them selfs and fighting for what rights him and his parents were born here the boy took a cowards way out and why was there a rifle in the home that he could get a hold of and what kind of kid takes a knife to school that should say something about what kind of mental problems he had and lets ask his parents what probmles were at home …..a martyr yea right hello suicide is a sin so in Gods eyes he was not martyr but a mere sinner….. and yea his parents are going to sue to see how much money they can get from the school and blame someone else for there problems

School: Soltero not at protest
School claims Soltero was not threatened
By Melissa Pinion-Whitt, Staff Writer

ONTARIO – A boy who committed suicide over what relatives alleged were threats of jail made by a school official for protesting an immigration bill never participated in any protests, the superintendent said Thursday. Anthony Soltero, 14, of Ontario told his mother the day he shot himself March 30 that he was pulled into the De Anza Middle School vice principal’s office and was threatened with harsh discipline for protesting off campus during school. But Ontario-Montclair School District Superintendent Sharon McGehee said the investigation into the incident so far has not turned up any evidence that Soltero was threatened the way the boy’s relatives and attorneys have said. ”We have no corroborating evidence that he threatened the student with prison,” McGehee said. In fact, she said, their investigation determined the boy and three other students never went to the demonstration but instead cut class for several hours, which an attorney for the boy’s family denies. McGehee said Soltero was given the option to miss out on either the end-of-the-year dance or field trip for eight-graders. There were no other forms of punishment issued by vice principal Gene Bennett, McGehee said. McGehee added that, according to interviews conducted with students and faculty, the boy and the other students never marched with protesters at all. ”The information we have is a couple of them went to a friend’s house, and a couple of them went to a market, and they came back to the school for lunch,” she said. ”We have no information that the students were involved in the immigration protests.” R. Samuel Paz, the Soltero family’s attorney, disagreed with the superintendent. He has interviewed the other students he said were in the meeting with Soltero and the vice principal. The students told Paz they heard the administrator threaten Soltero with jail, fines and that they would be barred from participating in graduation activities. ”We have eyewitnesses who actually participated in the march with him,” Paz said. Ontario police Wednesday night released the original suicide note left by Soltero for his family, Paz said. He said most of the boy’s handwritten note expressed his love for his family, but it also mentioned the vice principal. He would not elaborate on the statement, only to say ”it corroborates what the students have said about the threats and how they affected Anthony.” The district and De Anza Middle School were flooded with hundreds of phone calls about the boy’s death and even included threats against the vice principal, she said. ”I think suicide is a very emotional subject, and immigration is an emotional subject, and when they appear to be linked, it becomes doubly emotional,” McGehee said. The superintendent said the investigation will continue for another week or two to determine what was said during any meeting. ”Our sense in the ongoing investigation is that the assistant principal acted appropriately,” McGehee said. While it remains uncertain whether the De Anza students left school to protest, hundreds of Inland Valley students who did are facing a variety of consequences, including truancy tickets to detention. School administrators and police hope the late-March student protests on immigration reform won’t happen again, but some districts have been meeting in case they do. ”We’ll work with the Police Department on a plan for contingencies in case we see a lot of students hit the streets again,” said Richard Maxwell, spokesman for the Pomona Unified School District. The walkouts resulted in a wide-range of responses by school officials and law enforcement, they included simply busing students back to school, assigning detention and, in some cases, writing tickets. Fontana school resource officers issued 328 citations to students who participated in the walkouts between March 27 to 31, school district officials said. Montclair police wrote 125 truancy tickets to Serrano Middle School students who walked off campus March 28. ”We detained the students, loaded them back up on the buses and took them back to school. It was agreed upon that we’d issue them truancy citations,” said Montclair police Capt. Chris Weiske. Several dozen students from the Chino Valley Unified School District received tickets, said district spokeswoman Julie Gobin. Six Ontario High School students received tickets and a dozen were suspended, said Martha Mena-Lopez, school dean of discipline. Some schools opted to give truant students detention to make up for lost class time, saying suspensions and tickets were counter-productive. ”Giving a student a license to be out on the street for being truant didn’t make any sense,” Martinez said. Chino Valley Unified also gave 227 students from Don Lugo, Chino Hills and Chino high schools detention for participating in the walkouts, Gobin said. Rialto Unified School District principals are going through attendance records to determine proper punishment for students who were truant. While the situation is calm now, school administrators plan to keep a close eye on students in the next few weeks, especially with talks of a May 1 international boycott. Called ”A Day Without a Latino,” the event was organized during a April 8 summit in Phoenix. At the meeting, immigrant advocacy groups from across the country discussed a strategy opposing legislation in Congress. The groups also pushed for people of Mexican or Latin American descent not to show up May 1 at work, school or supermarkets in order to send a message about their role in society and impact on the economy. HR 4437, introduced by House Judiciary Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., calls for tightening the nation’s borders but also would make it possible to penalize those who aid undocumented immigrants, including religious and humanitarian organizations. Penalties in some school districts could be tougher if more walkouts occur. Martinez said suspensions could be issued for students deemed habitually truant. Montclair High students could possibly face tickets, suspension or loss of school privileges, Principal Michael Hook said. The penalties for citations can range from community service to probation, depending on the number of truancies. But officials have been providing students with other ways to express their concerns over the legislation with the hope they won’t resort to cutting class. Rialto Unified School District has encouraged its students to write letters to state leaders about the bill, district spokeswoman Syeda Jafri said. Students serving detention in the Chino district have used the time to discuss immigration and the protests. Martinez suggested schools give students the option to write a report about the immigration issue. Some schools have been providing open microphone sessions on campus that allow children to speak out. Activists have planned a vigil march today for immigrants rights in Pomona, said Gustavo Ramirez, co-founder of the Coalition for Safety and Well-Being in Pomona. The march will begin between 4:15 and 4:30 p.m. at the corner of Holt and Indian Hill boulevards and will travel north to Claremont, Ramirez said.

Ontario police Wednesday night released the boy’s suicide note to his family. Samuel Paz, the mother’s attorney, said it corroborated the allegations against the vice principal. Paz and the boy’s mother have declined to release the note.

“Ninety-nine percent of it is about his family, and how he’s so sad to be in this situation,” Paz said of the suicide note. “He says something extremely negative about the vice principal, filled with expletives … the only negative thing about anyone in the note.”

—

Yep, 99% about impending breakup of family, divorce of mother and step-father (father is still local, photo op at district office), kid’s on probation for last year’s expulsion, and now this – he does have other problems alright. Only one single sentence about the traumatic triggering event – yeah, right.

This Anthony Soltero was born in the United States and was a U.S. citizen who was 100% protected by the U.S. constitution. He didn’t attend the protest, and he was on probation at school. How is he a loss to anyone outside his family?

Juan Valencia, a De Anza student who marched in Los Angeles Saturday, said he had been with Anthony on March 28, the day of the walkout. The pair participated in the protest only briefly, Valencia said, then left because they were ”sort of scared” by the police presence.
_________________________________________________

If Anthony was a protest organizer/leader, why were there only 1 other student from his school with him, and why did he miss the protest on the main day? The major event was Mon 3/27, the student walkouts on 3/28 numbered less than 300, and was nowhere near De Anza middle school. The police presence was concentrated at Indian Hill and the 10 frwy, almost 5 miles from the Anthony’s middle school. Juan Valencia needs to explain exactly where Anthony’s group went to protest because there was no reportable walkout activity anywhere near his school, and not even at Ontario High School on Tuesday (where there were scores of walkouts the day before), about 1.7 miles from their own school. If he was intimidated by clustered police presence that morning, he had to have traveled, on foot, nearly 10 miles in less than 2 hours to get back to school by lunchtime.

>

The pair? I thought he was a protest leader.

[[L.A. Times 04/15
Jeffrey F. Cohen, one of her attorneys, said Anthony did participate in a student march for immigrant rights and that two classmates “will provide that testimony in court.”
“Anthony was passionate about immigration issues,” Cohen said.]]

So in less than one 36 hours of public news, the TWO classmates who will testify presence at the student march now becomes a SINGLE classmate who told a Daily Bulletin reporter (Mason Stockstill) at the 4/16 L.A. rally that it was just the pair of them on the day in question, and it was “only briefly.”

But do we really want to say he did it because of his activities in organizing student protest rallies for immigrant rights? There was a march in Downtown L.A. on Sat 4/15 in memory of Anthony Soltero’s fight for immigrant rights. He took ONE friend 5 miles on foot (!) to attend a protest only briefly?

I know I shouldn’t say this but the word on the street is Anthony’s mom was pregnant with is baby.
I know its weird but his mom was really his step- mom. She’s only 22. I heard she had a thing for Anthony and one thing lead to another. Then his mother’s sister, who is only 17, was also hooking up with Anthony is pregnant. He was afraid of his dad finding out. So he freaked. The pressure got to him. I feel bad for the family.

I find my self incredibly angry that all these people who call this kid or anyone else a coward for killing themselves. Trust me, having been close to the edge many times myself and felt the incredible sense of isolation, feelings of hopelessness and pain during those times, one is not considering one’s bravery. It disgusts me to think that there are people out there who can stand so blithely by and declare so sanctimoniously about a adolescents character without knowing how he truly felt.
I would think that with a ounce of compassion and a whit of wisdom, that they would at least spend a moment to consider that they themselves might have been very fortunate to have not experienced this “CHILDS” pain.
And while I do not consider suicide a appropriate choice, I do understand that there are those amongst us all who do not posses the coping mechanisms to deal with the many diverse challenges that life deals us. I understand there are those of us in this world who feel things deeper and more profoundly. I understand that there are those of us who can withstand the keenest of physical pain, but have no coping mechanisms in relation to emotional or psychological issues. I understand that there are others who can stand strong against all manner of trials and calamity, while others feint at the least of life’s obstacles. That is the reality of the human condition not the self gratifying protestations of superiority that I see here. I just hope that if and when these sanctimonious bunch meet their Waterloo that there is someone to catch them when they fall because it is a lonely hard place to be when one feels so much inner pain that one is driven to commit suicide. Oh before someone calls me sanctimonious for speaking up, they should know that I have been guilty many times of needing to look at others and declare my own of superiority enough to know why I did it. And it ain’t because I really was superior, it was because I was “deflecting” to hide my own many “inadequacies” . BTW, I also believe it is a common animal characteristic to try to hide ones own inadequacies in order to not get culled out by the pack, but being a so called superior race I believe we all should be striving to identify and face our weaknesses instead of utilizing them as bludgeons to strike out at the weaker in our midst. Does not Christ say that the meek shall inherit the earth. Is not humility and compassion declared by many faiths and beliefs to be a worthy cause and characteristic? Sorry if I offend but I sick to death of this phony moralizing that has become so endemic in our culture. Get a clue guys it aint perty or productive. Life is hard and some of us are lucky and fortunate period to have the opportunities and gifts that we have, whilst others may not be so lucky or fortunate to have the same. period. And no amount of phony blather is going to make you look smarter or of worthier character to be in a position of higher fortunes. No declarations of ones superior work ethics or spiritual beliefs is going to change the fact that you are just lucky and made a bit differently than the poor slob you pass in the street. The best we as humans can do is to try to help each other out and stop kicking each other around. trust me you could just as easily get kicked down today as the next guy.

PEOPLE! Anthony had the right to go out and protest and what is up with the vice principal telling him that he will go to jail for 3 years and all that other crap! A lot of students have protested about this and you don’t see them going to jail right?!?!?!?!?!? They sue the vice principal and that he should go to jail because he threatened a student and he is responsible for Anthony’s death!! Anthony was right! What happened to FREEDOM OF SPEECH up in this country!!!! Oh and before you say anything this country is not fair it is not equal!!!!! And for all you dumb people out there yes I am supporting this boy!!! In fact I was going to walk out except all the teachers found out and they blocked every exit in the school so no one would leave and guess what????some kids still got out! And he is not a coward. The guy was scared and i think mad because of the vice principal so he probably thought that 3 years in prison and not being able to do all that education stuff was bad in his life so I guess he panicked and commited suicide. I still believe the principal is to blame. Yes i am good in writing i am in Accelerated English.

This kid brought a knife to school last year, and it wasn’t an accident because he brandished it to a kid he was having a conflict with.

You think a kid who’s been expelled by the same asst principal gives a lick about an administrative threat? You don’t think he was threatened w/ even more serious jail time already when he brought a knife at school to confront another student? Its a mandatory expulsion charge to bring a weapon on campus. You think the penalties on truancy are going to freak him? Its not even a suspendable offense!

I think the kid should have gotten a $275 ticket like thousands of others. He got let off easy with empty threats (if the vice principal was gonna really do it, he would have, what’s to wait for? The kid already admitted to the administrator he snuck out between classes – not “walked out in protest”)
What’s the point of a civil disobedience protest of you don’t get punished for it? Its like it never happened, or you haven’t shown you are willing to pay the price for the words you wanna say.
If Martin Luther King’s group never got beat on, tear gased, high pressure hosed, and jailed, you think they’d get all that press coverage? You think anyone would care if it was just a quiet peaceful, prayerful march, and then they go home an have thier Sunday soup?
The kid got caught in a lie. He’s dead now. Leave him alone!

r.i.p anthony…i never knew him cause i am from wisconsin but i saw what happen on the news. i am not trying to say who is right or who is wrong but it just really sucks how the kids have to go thru this. how they have too see what is going on, i just want all this to end, cause it effecting me also. i don’t know its just a hard time right now and its scary. i also went to the protest over here in milwuakee, and it was such an experince. thank you…..

People have been angered over school’s violating students rights in these protests. What people fail to realize is that the Constitution does not protect every right and every person. There are exceptions, especially at schools where freedom of speech falls behind creating an environment to learn. For a true education read Martin Luther King’s letter from jail. He states that when utilizing civil disobedience, one should be ready and willing to accept the consequences. That being said the outcry of people who are calling for the heads of the school administrators sickens me. I’ve seen people wish the worst kind of harm on these people, what happened to peaceful?

The comment Posted by: Maria at April 17, 2006 09:58 AM needs to keep her mouth shut! I am a famliy member of anthony and this is completely a lie. People like you are the cause of rumors in this world. If you don’t know the facts and its just something you heard then you are right about yourself; you shouldn’t be saying anything at all. All that continues to go on with this tragic issue will simply not bring Anthony back. One thing is true, if you were the parents of Anthony I’m sure you’d be trying to find out the truth about who threatened your son/daughter or what went on in their school also. If not, you shouldn’t be considered a parent.

While Anthonys death is a trajedy, his death IS being exploited by the activists. I feel bad for his family, but the truth is that his death was caused by his parents failing to keep a firearm and ammunition secure.
When the Vice Principal called Anthony in to the office to discipline him, should he have expected that this could cause the death of this boy? No, of course not. This is his job, this is what he is supposed to do. He disciplines kids everyday, and they don’t kill themselves.

But when his parents left a rifle and ammunition unsecured in a garage with children home alone, should they have expected that this could cause the death of a child? Yes, of course they should have. Children are killed every week in the United States from unsecured weapons.

Blaming the school district and Vice principal will deflect blame from themselves, and make his parents feel less guilty about what they’ve caused. But I don’t blame them. They have to live with the knowledge that if they had taken more care with a lethal weapon, their son probably would have just come home and waited for his parents to console him.

But the biggerst problem is that people don’t seem to really understand what the meaning of “Free Speech” is. It means that everyone has the right to voice their opinion. But so many people mistakenly think that it means that you can do it any any time you want, with no penalties. Free speech DOES NOT mean a free pass out of school. Free speech means you have the right to speak your opinions to others that want to hear you, at appropriate times. Not any time you want as so many people mistakenly think.
Free Speech does not mean that you don’t have to show up at work. It does not mean you can walk out of class. It does not mean you can stand up in a movie theater and start singing. It does not mean you can stand up during a wedding ceremony and try to sing a song while the preacher is speaking. It doesn’t mean any of those things. Your free speech and the act you commited to get to that point are two separate things. If I want to protest that’s fine. But if I want to protest during school, then I know that I will be punished for leaving class. I expect that. My free speech is not a free ticket to violate rules.

The activists are playing this whole thing with such deceit. This whole movement is rooted in Racism. This is the largest Racist movement that I’ve heard of since the 1960’s. But all the racism is on the part of the Activists. They are only supporting illegals because they are Latinos. Does anyone truly believe that these activists would be marching for the illegals if it was 12 million white Germans that had illegally crossed our border and were taking latino jobs? If 12 million Germans with thick German accents were everywhere you looked. Taking jobs everywhere while we have a high unemployment rate. Do you think these activists would be marching for them? Hell No! It’s only the racism of the activist leaders that is carrying these protests.

I’m an American Citizen, many generations over. I love my country. I’m also a Mexican-American. There have been times that I have been out of work, desparate, depressed, and lost. But I have never ever felt that this entitled me to illegally cross over the border of another country and demand that they let me stay there, work there, and be given health aid, welfare or any assistance. I’ve never as an American citizen felt that I could demand that of another country. Especially if I had illegally sneaked into their country. So why do the illegals from Mexico, Mexican citizens feel that they have that right here? It’s that ARROGANCE that I resent deeply.

When citizens of Mexico illegally sneak over our border, and then arrogantly tell us that we don’t have the right to decide who enters our country, whose rights are REALLY being oppressed? Think about it.

And another deceitful thing is that the activists are trying to portray this as being against immigrants. That’s another lie. It is against ILLEGAL imigrants. Our government is absolutely not against immigrants or immigration. The United States government brings in more immigrants each year than any other country in the world. It’s only ILLEGAL immigration that they are trying to stop. With legal immigration the new immigrants are screened for their criminal background, and more importantly to see if they carry andy deadly diseases. During the 1950’s United States had gotten rid of both Polio and tuberculosis in our country. And now it has come back and is rising, because it has entered our county illegally passing the screening process. Illegal immigration is more than just a social issue, it’s a serious health issue. Yet the activists are trying to fool other legal immigrants into thinking this is against them. Not true, it is not against immigration. It is against people illegally sneaking into our country. If they are honest, why do they need to lie?

But don’t be fooled by the May 1 boycott. If it was only the illegal immigrants staying home, it might actually mean something. But activists are trying to deceitfully cheat by urging all latinos to boycott that day. Now the boycott means absolutely nothing at all.

What will it means if the boycott succeeds? Does it mean we need those people? Yeah, right. It simply means we need someone to do those jobs. It could be some of the millions of people who are out of work. Or it could be some of the millions of people in other countries who want to LEGALLY migrate to the United States. Do they actually think that we are stupid enough to think that only people from Mexico can do those jobs? There are plenty of Mexican-Americans right here in the United States who are out of work that would be glad to do most of those jobs. We don’t need to bring in illegals from Mexico to do them. That’s just a big lie. It’s hard to believe that some people are stupid enough to believe it. These aren’t the days when Mexicans came here to do jobs that nobody else wants. Just look around you in Calfornia. Illegal Mexicans are doing the same jobs as everybody else. They don’t just come here to work in the fields anymore like they did in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Hell, most of them wouldn’t even consider working in the fields.

But don’t let it fool you on May 1. All that means is that we need to fill those jobs with people who really want to be “Americans”. Not people who want to be Mexicans working and living in the United States. There’s a difference.

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